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Originally Posted by Romans922  Right, that is what i was thinking, I didn't know if there was anything before that and/or after.
I'm preaching a sermon on Job 18 where Bildad is accusing him of sinning, which is the supposed reason for his suffering. |
Having dealt with and preached through the book of Job, I thought I might offer the following remarks. Considering the complexity of the structure of the Book of Job, God's initial remarks about Job, and the various cycles of interactions between Job and his three "would be" friends, I would be very careful not to regard their arguments against Job always as an accurate assessment of his status before God. His three friends have a certain theological paradigm with which they approach Job. That theological paradigm is that the righteous always prosper and the wicked always suffer (For them, this paradigm is a universal truth, rather than a general truth...Universal truths being those that always hold true, and general truths being those that generally hold to be true. The truth that the righteous prosper and the wicked suffer, as taught in the wisdom literature of Holy Scripture, is a general truth rather than a universal truth). But Job is the exception to their theological paradigm, and in their little universe of understanding Job must be made to fit their theological scheme. So their response to Job's suffering is, "Job you've sinned and committed some great crime against heaven, repent and find in God relief for your suffering." All that serve to accomplish was to vex Job's soul, for he had already searched in vain for any precipitating and offending sin as the cause for his suffering. Job's sin came about during the course of his suffering, in questing the goodness, wisdom and righteousness of God - (see e.g. Job 38:1ff; Job 40:1-2), and not as the precipitating or direct cause for it.
Calvin has offered us what I think is a very important key to understanding the exchanges which transpire between Job and his three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, & Zophar). Calvin points out...
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| John Calvin: However, we have also to note that in the whole dispute Job maintains a good case, and his adversary maintains a poor one. Now there is more, that Job maintaining a good case pleads it poorly, and the others bringing a poor case plead it well. See John Calvin, Sermons from Job, intro. Harold Dekker (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, reprinted 1979), p. 5. See also Dekker's remarks in his introduction on p. xxxvi.
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Of course, this little book has only a few selections of Calvin's sermons on Job, and we must look hopefully to the future that they will all one day be translated and published, if they haven't been already.
But remember, the structure of Job is something like that of a courtroom, and his three friends are the prosecuting attorneys. But as the common proverb goes, anyone representing themselves has a fool for an attorney. For as Calvin noted, Job has a good case but pleads it poorly; his three friends have a bad case but they plead it well.
I would look for the identification of Job's sin not in his three friends, but in the pronouncements of God when He addresses Job directly. Again, see e.g. Job 38:1ff; Job 40:1-2.
DTK